Every time Republicans fail to take responsibility for their dangerous, incendiary rhetoric, by claiming to be victims themselves (of violence they stoked), they’re always brought crashing to earth in a stunningly embarrassing moment. Remember B-Girl?

Yeah.

(Continued Below)

So yesterday, after days of threats against Democratic lawmaker – threats stirred up by Republicans leaders who have been mis-characterizing the healthcare reform bill and indeed mis-characterizing President Obama as far back as the Palin rallies of Hate — Democrats called on Republicans to join them in renouncing violence.

But, um, the Republicans didn’t want to play with the Democrats. So, they said no. They were gonna issue their own statements. There would be no show of unity for the good of the country. Nope.

Yesterday we were treated to various Republican statements, the sort you’re familiar with when you tell a 6 year old they have to apologize. “Yeah, well, maybe I was wrong, it’s all your fault, and I hate mommy for making me say sorry! He started it!”

And then we had a righteous Eric Cantor, claiming his office was SHOT at. I wondered at the time if the teabaggers may have shot at his office, seeing as they are now furious with Republicans for allowing a “Marxist Socialist Nazi” to “take over” the healthcare sector. But whose fault is that? They wouldn’t be so angry if Republicans hadn’t been lying to them for so long. So how would that have made the violence equal, if in fact, he had been targeted by the teabaggers? You lay down with dogs….

Just to be sure, I checked Palin’s target map and I didn’t see Eric name on there anywhere. And then I remembered how Republicans love to play victim as soon as the heat gets turned up on them. Unfortunately for Cantor, the police don’t concur with his version of events. So much for Cantor’s desperate attempt to take cover for being a bully by hopping on the victim bus.

““It is a stray bullet as part of random gunfire,” Lepley said. Police said they have no suspects.

Cantor’s office declined comment. (I’ll bet)

Cantor announced Thursday at a news conference in Washington that his office had been fired at. Police confirmed that, saying that a bullet struck a window, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the window but did not penetrate the blinds. The bullet triggered an alarm and the police were notified immediately.

Cantor’s office is in a small building several blocks from Capitol Square. It has several small offices in it. There are no Cantor signs on the doors or windows. …”

He gave a great performance in his poutraged press conference, remembering to remind Democrats that he has a family and children — oh, and also, he is Jewish. So, he is special because he is a human being. Unlike, say, the Democratic families who have been targeted by the teabagging extremists. Actually, Eric, it is your Democratic (yes, that’s DemocratIC, not Democrat—adjective, check it out) counterparts whose children have been threatened by your Tea Klux Klan constituency. And your Democratic colleagues whose families have been terrorized with coffins on their yards, had their gas lines cut, and pictures of their children published in papers along with veiled and not so veiled threats.

Republicans are crying wolf again, accusing Democrats of using the violence perpetrated against them for political purposes. This is just another way to conflate, confuse, distract, and blame — anything to avoid responsibility for their actions. But when even Elizabeth Hasslebeck is calling you out, you gotta stop and ask yourself if you’re making the right choices.

And let me point out that there wouldn’t be any violence for Democrats to use for political purposes if Republicans hadn’t been lying for political purposes for years. The GOP made this bed. They started during the campaign, accusing Obama of being Anti-American, having posters with Obama as Hitler in their campaign offices, sending racist emails out to their constituents from government offices, allowing Palin to accuse Obama of pallin’ around with terrorists (which is better than being an actual domestic terrorists, I might point out), etc. Now they have to live with the fruits of their disingenuous lies, inaccuracies, and distortions.

I guess the Department of Homeland Security warning about right wing domestic terrorism being the single largest threat to our country wasn’t wrong. Color me shocked. The Republicans need to set the tone for the most crazy of their followers, not the least. The rightwing extremists tend to be armed, angry, and crazy. Per the DHS.

Instead of Republicans acknowledging this and toning down their desperate political ploys (what kind of party has nothing else to run on but manufactured hate, divisiveness, and rage? A party whose policies were an epic failure. ), the Republicans refuse to take responsibility for their actions and instead amp up the drama.

Cantor claiming his office was the target of gun violence yesterday was meant to deflect from the reality that his party has stoked the crazies who are now threatening Democrats and liberals across the country.

One stray bullet can’t get you or your party out of this one, Eric. There will be more blood and it will be on your hands.

Update: Questions are arising regarding whether or not Cantor deliberately misled the public in his presser. Not only does the building that was shot have no signs on it, but apparently it is not his office building. Instead, it is a place where he has held meetings on a different floor than the floor that was shot. I’d really like to see these threats he claims he received now. You know, the threatening emails he refused to disclose. Please see photos of the “office” location here. This is thoroughly disgusting, especially as the mainstream media only reported his presser. Republicans know how to play the media cycle.